The FAA has approved Garmin’s new GTN 650Xi and GTN 750Xi GPS navcoms for installation in the Airbus AS350B2/B3, EC120B, and EC130B3/T2; Bell 206B through 206L-4 and 407; Enstrom F-28F, 280FX, and 480B; and MD Helicopters 369E/F/FF. For existing GTN installations, the touchscreen GTN 650Xi and GTN 750Xi are slide-in replacements, and prices are $13,505 and $19,005, respectively.
According to Garmin, the most significant change to the GTN Xi is faster dual-core processors, which allow for quicker startup, faster map rendering, a wider viewing angle for the high-resolution display, and smoother touchscreen map panning. Pilots can overlay geo-referenced approach procedures on the map page. Helicopter terrain awareness and warning system is optional, while the units come standard with terrain alerting with audible and visual terrain-proximity alerts such as “terrain ahead, pull up” and “obstacle ahead, pull up.”
The new GTNs can also be wirelessly connected to mobile devices running Garmin Pilot and FltPlan Go apps when the optional Flight Stream 510 is installed. This allows updating of aviation databases and flight plan transfer from the mobile device to the GTN, as well as sharing ADS-B In traffic and weather and GPS position information.